91Èȱ¬

In this, the 10th anniversary of 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme, the station announces the next group of young musicians who have been selected to take part.

More than 70 international soloists and groups have been supported by the scheme since its inception 10 years ago, since which time it has provided some of the world's best young musical talent with a wide-ranging programme of broadcast and performance opportunities over a two-year period.

Those artists joining the scheme from September are:

Khatia Buniatishvilli (piano – Georgia)
Francesco Piemontesi (piano – Italy)
Elias Quartet (UK)
Atos Trio (Germany)
Malin Christensson (soprano – Sweden)
Henk Neven (baritone – The Netherlands)

The 10th anniversary of the scheme is marked at this year's 91Èȱ¬ Proms in a special bank holiday weekend-long series of chamber music concerts at Cadogan Hall (29-31 August).

More than 50 young artists will perform a great range of repertoire as both soloists and chamber musicians and these include the following young artists who entered the scheme in 2008 and are embarking upon their second and final year:

Meta4 Quartet (Finland)
Jennifer Pike (violin – UK)
Tai Murray (violin – USA)
Giuliano Sommerhalder (trumpet – Swiss-Italian)
Andreas Brantelid (cello – Denmark)
Daniela Lehner (mezzo-soprano – Austria)
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord – USA/Iran)
Tom Arthurs (jazz trumpet – UK)

New Generation Artists alumni include such respected artists as pianist Paul Lewis, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, bass-baritone Christopher Maltman and violinist Janine Jansen.

More recent participants include Aylish Tynan – who performed on the opening night of this year's 91Èȱ¬ Proms – and trumpeter Alison Balsom – who will be taking to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall to play Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E flat major on the Last Night of the Proms.

Adam Gatehouse, Editor of Live Music at Radio 3, says: "It is a great privilege to continually discover and nurture such a wealth of young musical talent. One of Radio 3's main aims is to support artists in the early stages of their careers and share the excitement and joy of their music-making with our listeners."

Notes to Editors

Biographies

Khatia Buniatishvilli (piano)
Born on 21 June 1987 in Tbilisi, Khatia Buniatishvili grew up in Georgia. At the 12th Arthur Rubinstein Competition in 2008, she won the third prize and was distinguished as the Best Performer of a Chopin Piece and the Audience Favourite.

Khatia has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.

In October 2009, Buniatishvili will give the first public performance of a newly discovered double concerto by Mendelssohn together with Gidon Kremer at the Vienna Music Society.

This year, she has appeared at the festival in Lockenhaus and at the Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano and will perform at the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival.

Francesco Piemontesi (piano)
Born in 1983, Francesco has performed in many major venues including the Schleswig-Holstein, Ruhr and Roque d'Antheron Festivals and at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Carnegie Hall in New York and Musikverein in Vienna with orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, London Mozart Players and Prague Symphony Orchestra.

Francesco counts Yuri Bashmet and Heinrich Schiff among his music-making partners. He has recorded for EMI Classics.

Elias Quartet (UK)
Formed in 1998 at the RNCM in Manchester the Elias String Quartet are widely recognised as one of the UK's leading chamber ensembles, performing across Europe and the USA, and with much-heralded recordings for the Wigmore Hall Live and ASV Gold labels.

This season includes a major tour of Australia for Musica Viva, a three-concert Schubert quartet series at the Wigmore Hall, a Mendelssohn Quartet series at King's Place in London, and tours with pianist Jonathan Biss and cellist Alice Neary.

Atos Trio (Germany)
Formed in 2003 the ATOS Trio has played concerts to high acclaim by both critics and audiences alike. Prize-winner at renowned competitions, eg: Melbourne 2007 and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award (USA). Several tours in the USA, New Zealand and Australia. In 2009 their fourth and fifth CD with works by Mendelssohn and Suk will be released.

Malin Christensson (soprano – Sweden)
Swedish soprano Malin Christensson studied at the Royal College of Music. In opera, she has appeared at the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna and Glyndebourne Festivals; at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; in Santiago di Chile and at the Drottningholms Slottsteater.

In concert, she has sung with the LSO, MCO and Swedish Radio Orchestra with Harding; the OAE with Jacobs and Leonhardt; the Gavle Symfoni Orkester with Ticciati; the RSNO with Deneve; the Northern Sinfonia with Labadie and the Orchestre de l'opera national de Lyon with de Billy. In recital she has appeared at London's Wigmore Hall, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and at the Innsbruck, Bath Mozart and Oxford Lieder Festivals accompanied by Roger Vignoles, Malcom Martineau and Simon Lepper.

She has recently recorded Sophie (Werther) with Bertrand de Billy alongside the Werther of Rolano Villazon and the Charlotte of Elena Garanea, shortly to be released by Deutsche Grammophon, and her future engagements include Papagena at the Theatre du Chatalet and in Montpellier and First Niece (Peter Grimes) at La Scala, Milan.

Henk Neven (baritone – The Netherlands)
A graduate from the Conservatory of Amsterdam, Henk Neven made his professional debut in 2004. He performs regularly with major European opera companies and has also worked with well-known orchestras such as such as the Orchestre National de France, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Staatskapelle Berlin and Les Talens Lyriques under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Edo de Waart and Christophe Rousset.

He has performed at the Gergiev Festival, Rotterdam and in 2009/10 will give recitals in the Concertgebouw's prestigious Vocale Series as well as at La Monnaie Brussels. He is a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship Award winner.

CF2